Copying DNA
9/17/2009
Research performed at the laboratories of Professor Taekjip Ha in the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and Professor Smita S. Patel in the Department of Biochemistry at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School using state-of-the-art single-molecule and ensemble methods recently solved this problem by discovering mechanisms that help coordinate DNA replication (Nature 462: 940-943, 2009). They show that formation of a loop in the lagging strand allows the enzyme that copies DNA to quickly begin synthesis of short DNA fragments (as shown in the figure). Furthermore, they reveal that faster synthesis of the lagging strand enables it to keep up with the leading strand.
For more information see: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091218130754.htm